Labor Day Weekend Re-cap: I love Atlanta!

I’m not sure anyone really enjoys reading re-cap posts from bloggers.  Sometimes I end up skipping them myself, but I understand why bloggers do them because blogging isn’t just about good content, it’s about capturing memories and I’m thankful I have a place to capture the memory of a great trip to Atlanta this weekend!

I absolutely LOVE the city of Atlanta!  This Labor Day Weekend, Nick and I decided to visit Atlanta for a few reasons: 1. Free place to stay (family!) 2. Ikea 3. Distance (not too far, yet still a nice drive) 4. It’s my favorite city!

Thursday
The weekend technically started for me on Thursday night.  I drove up to Starkville that night so I wouldn’t have as long a drive on Friday.  Nick had classes on Friday, so we couldn’t leave until about noon.  Thursday night was absolute perfection because I was able to have dinner at Stromboli’s with my dear friend Jamey and then join Lacy and Noelle (the two girls I’m doing Disney Wine & Dine with) for some Bop’s ice cream.  I love those three girls so much!

Me & Lacy (she’s the cutest red head ever!)

Friday
I walked to campus and enjoyed a bagel for breakfast and picked up some Starbucks for me and Nick.  I dropped off Nick’s coffee to him while he was switching classes and then ran some errands until it was time to leave.  I started getting pretty frustrated with my errands, I kept taking wrong turns, I couldn’t find the things I needed and ugh, it was annoying… I calmed down before we finally hit the road and the rest of the trip was wonderful and relaxing!  I love taking trips with Nick – he drives the whole time and we have the perfect balance of conversation and music between us.  During our drive we looked for a particular gas station and siri gave us this for our destination which we thought was hilarious!  She told us we would have to get out of our car and walk to our destination…. yet we were driving to a gas station haha.

We arrived in town Friday night just in time for dinner and my Aunt and Uncle treated us to Chinese.  It was absolutely delicious!  I had the tofu with fried rice.

After dinner we went back to the house and watched Olympus has Fallen which was SUCH A GOOD MOVIE! If you haven’t seen it, you should!  It’s kind of gory though.

Saturday
We slept in and that was really nice!  I was suppose to wake up and do 4 miles, but I get really lazy on vacations.  Since we don’t have an easy Dunkin’ Donuts near us, we decided to have breakfast there.  It was wonderful, like always!  After Dunkin Donuts we got ready for the day and eventually headed out for some lunch.  I’m a HUGE steak n’ shake lover!  Nick has never been, so it was only fitting that he experience this.  Due to my trying to be more vegetarian, I ended up with a veggie melt that wasn’t half bad, but it definitely wasn’t the same as their burger…

Nick loved it and he wore the hat during his entire meal!

Then we decided to do some shopping!  We went to the mall where Nick got a pair of jeans and really awesome rug for his room.  I went to this fabulous consignment store in Atlanta called Clothes Mentor and picked up 2 great pairs of jeans and a cute top.  We then went to World Market – I’ve never been to a World Market so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Nick decided to visit Five Below and he wasn’t quite sure what to expect there either.  We both were pleasantly surprised.  When I finally understood where I was, I had a major freak out moment because I ran into this….

That my friends is German Chocolate!! I walked into a mini-Epcot when I entered this place!  I immediately ran to the store next door and told Nick I had a huge surprise because I knew he’d be just as excited!  While in the Five Below store I snagged a $4 yoga mat!  I had been searching for a reasonably priced yoga mat, so that was a score!  We then proceeded to stock up on our fair share of German Chocolate.  I’m trying to make it last me until November when I actually visit Epcot.
After all of our shopping, we had dinner at this wonderful Mexican restaurant.  They ended up having karaoke which was so much fun!  My aunt has a wonderful voice and it was really hard to get her up there to sing, but she finally did.  Nick and I sang “I’ll be there for you” the FRIENDS theme song!  We were pretty terrible, but we had fun!  We planned on going to a $2.50 movie that night, but didn’t make it so we went back to the house and watched Admissions with Tina Fey and that was pretty good!

Sunday
Sunday was another full day of shopping.  Again, we slept in.  Nick and I went and visited my sweet Nanny, I love visiting her!  We chatted for a little bit and then headed to Whole Foods.  I didn’t get a lot of pictures from there, but I was excited of course.  I absolutely LOVE Whole Foods and every time I go I have to get their vegan double chocolate cookie! (Nothing better, I tell you!)  After that, we went to Queen of Hearts which sort of like a Flea Market.  We didn’t find anything grand there, but I snapped this lovely picture!

“There’s always money in the banana stand!”

After Queen of Hearts, we hit up this local frozen yogurt place that is right next to this quaint little park.  We sat and watched children splash through the fountains.  It was peaceful and relaxing!  This one little girl was hilarious!  She kept sticking her little bum in the area where the water spouts out and she just giggled and giggled.  After that we went to IKEA! Finally! I love IKEA, although I don’t spend as much time looking around as Nick does… he takes forever!  I do my best to be patient and look at everything he wants to look at because he really does enjoy it and I like seeing him so happy and excited.  By the end of the store though, my feet hurt and I may be a tad cranky lol.  We decided to just eat dinner at IKEA and then finish the rest of our viewing.  We were worn out from Sunday’s activities so we headed back to the house and went to bed.

Monday- Labor Day
I woke up early this day and actually got my 2 mile run in for training.  My iphone turned off in the middle of my run, so that was less than stellar!  Nick would have gone with me but my little cousin hit his foot with one of those medal model trucks that kids slide across the floor (maybe you know what I’m talking about?) Anyways, it made his ankle swell up and we iced it the night before, but it was still a little sore so I don’t blame him for not going.  Nick and I got ready and headed out a little before lunch.  We wanted to make one more stop to IKEA because Nick had a few more things he wanted to buy and then we were on our way!  Of course, not without Starbucks…

Atlanta… I love you and I will see you again soon!  {Maybe one day I’ll live where you are!} *fingers crossed*

A list of my favorite places in Atlanta: keep in mind that I don’t have a lot of this because well.. I live in Mississippi (although, it’s no secret, I love my state!)
Whole Foods
World Market
Five Below
Queen of Hearts
Atlanta Braves
Coke Factory
Georgia Aquarium
Stone Mountain
IKEA
Quick Trip
Steak n Shake
The Varsity
Clothes Mentor
**The list continues to grow!**